Life on Mars

Hello, folk!To all of you who became fans of the ABC Wednesday night series Life on Mars, I would like this thread to serve as a place to discuss the episodes, especially in light of the interesting, albeit strange, series finale last night.Some important things I noted, after seeing the finale, in the final episode was the ease with which detective Tyler was able to move through time. It did not seem noticeable then, but was certainly something interesting to consider later on. Bigger yet, his hippie friend (the women who turns out to be the computer voice at the end) seemed to be speaking rather 'digitally' when she last told him that he could always go back. It seemed goofy even at that moment, but with no knowledge of what was happening, I had no way to know what it meant.More so than all that, of course, are the political statements made in the show. When detective Tyler first begins encountering others who claim to be from the future, he starts having visions. One in particular involves a vision of Barack Obama speaking on the television for several fuzzy visions, which occur after he hears from another time traveler that Obama has won the presidency. (Tyler is sent back in '08 before the elections, apparently). Then again, at the end of the final episode, when they are talking to their mission control commander back on Earth(?) he mentions president Obama (this is 2035, remember) as a female, apparently implying us to believe that another, female, Obama occupies the White House in '35. So, what can we make of these moments? The show seems otherwise rather conservative, e.g., the gung-ho police tactics used throughout.And the final problem, the cop who refers to the female officer as 'no-nuts' as well as their chief are definitely characters who are degenerate 70's cop materialthey are not astronaut materialand their presence in the space vessel toward the end looks out of place (I mean, they look like convicts).Other than that, the episode was rather interesting, and I was not disappointed at the ending, even though it served to entirely neglect everything we had been thinking and considering up till that point.So, what can we make of these issues in the show? What are you opinions on these matters? What other points of interest do you have with the show?I hope we can have fun with this,
Jon

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You've been Gremled!

As a fan of the original British version, having just read the plot synopsis all I have to say is

And why do you find it funny? I do admit, it is more sad than funny. The show's ratings were so terrible that they had to end it real fast Let me ask you, having never seen any of them, did the British version make subtle political statements too?Jon

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You've been Gremled!

Hi Jon,

quote:

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Let me ask you, having never seen any of them, did the British version make subtle political statements too?

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Yes it did and some none-too-subtle -ones as well. The episode on unions and strikes springs to mind. Unions were a political hot potato in the Seventies, so it made sense to address it, but I wouldn't call it subtle.Feminism and political correctness were constant themes and they were slightly better handled.I wonder if anyone on the board has seen both versions? It would be interesting to hear how they compare.Mutate and Survive

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"The Bible is like a person, and if you torture it long enough, you can get it to say almost anything you'd like it to say." -- Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade

I didn't even know the show existed until I saw this thread.

You poor soul Jon

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You've been Gremled!

I guess it was the dnouement as mentioned in the Wiki description (there be spoilers there!) - plays straight into the British film-geeks' concept of stereotypical US programme/film "alteration" for their target audience - thinking Bladerunner, etc, etc, etc, etc...

What aspects do you find have been changed specifically to fit the 'concept of stereotypical US programme/film "alternation"'? I understand that markets are different, but this does not seem like a necessarily bad thing to me.It's funny you mention Bladerunner; we will be watching that film in one of my lit theory classes. Gosh, I hope it is not awful.Jon

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You've been Gremled!

The finale of the US version had a happy ending that was less subtle or perhaps less ambiguous than the UK version.There are two versions of Bladrunner - I watched it as part of a university course too. The Director's cut is approximately a billion billion times better than the the US domestic release. I'm sure you'll cover that in your class.

We won't. Nothing good ever happens in that class.

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You've been Gremled!

I loved the english versionI couldnt watch more then 2 episodes of the US version though, terrible!The US version was overacted, bad costumes, and did i mention seriously overacted!!!

Overacted in what way? Can one ever really 'overact'? I think your criticism is unfair. Would you say the same of a play? Like a play, this show relied much more on its characters and their actions than on the costumes and stage setup. It was not your average razzle-dazzle special effect TV show, and that is why close-minded folk in this country (which, yes, is a LARGE percentage of the population) had no interest in ittoo much plot and not enough mindless drizzle. It wasn't that bad, now. And besides it still had some very British aspects to it; for example, all the characters wore the same clothes for weeks on end Jon

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You've been Gremled!

is this something we're supposed to do? Bizarre. I would hope that my unfair stereotypical generalisations had at least some half-baked basis in truth Like the old thing about British teeth - just because we're not obsessed with paying thousands of $$$ to othrodentists for completely unnecessary cosmetic work, somehow we have "bad" teeth Always reminds me of sad old Donnie Smith in Magnolia...

And the brits I know have better teeth than I do!I think Jon's upset because no one really did like the show, or even heard of it (taz and myself), and that no one is taking it seriously.Personally, I prefer battlestar galactica. Please don't tell me how the last 1.5 seasons went (yes, that's how long its been since I've had a tv).

the UK version was so good that the US version had a lot to live up to and frankly it failed miserably.the overacting was exactly what it was...overacting. Everything came out so forced, im not sure if thats because they were trying to give it a 70's feel, but it was so unnatural that it stunk ... outdoor dunny stink!It was a very clever series but unfortunately the US version was like an imitation series... you know how sequals to really good movies are never as good as the first... same thing here. You just cant beat the original. Get it and you'll see what i mean.